B&E Construction files for conditional use permit

MEADOW LAKES — The operator of an unlicensed gravel pit and landfill along Pittman Road, near Spence Lane, has applied for a license to operate a gravel pit at the location.

B&E Construction’s application with the Mat-Su Borough shows the company reapplied in April for a more stringent conditional use permit from the planning commission, according to borough staff.

Public comment for the permit ends July 10, ahead of a scheduled Aug. 3 planning commission public hearing, according to borough Development Services Manager Alex Strawn. The borough has received a few phone calls about activity at the site, but so far, activity has been the result of compliance with Department of Environmental Conservation-ordered sorting and removal of some materials, Strawn said.

“They’re working to get that cleaned up,” he said. “We’ve received complaints about trucks, and they were actually just doing some sorting.”

Borough staff also issued a recommendation on whether the board should approve the permit application, though officials hadn’t reached a decision Monday, Strawn said.

According to permitting documents, B&E has hired Anchorage-based engineering firm Hattenberg, Dilley & Linnell LLC to formulate application documents. The company is a licensed partnership of John Emmi and Steven Bargabos, according to the business license.

B&E plans to mine about 19.7 acres — or roughly one sixth — of the parcel’s 120 acres, at the rate of about 20,500 yards per year until 2034, according to the application. A map provided for informational purposes shows the mining activity will take place at the north end of the property, closer to adjacent residential neighborhoods.

If approved, the pit would operate from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the summer and during daylight hours during the winter months. The owners plan to maintain a 50-foot-wide vegetative buffer on the northern and eastern property boundaries, and would maintain an existing 10-foot berm on the north, east, and west edges of the area where gravel will be extracted, according to the permit. Extraction will go as deep as 20 feet below the existing grade, according to the application.

The combination pit and landfill generated garbage complaints beginning in 2011, until the discovery in April 2014 that the property did not have the permitting necessary to operate either a landfill or a gravel extraction pit. A company holding a $2.9-million contract for construction with the borough was forced to switch to another source for gravel after the discovery was made.

The borough rejected an administrative permit — a permit good for up to two years given at the borough planning director’s discretion — in July 2014. The DEC also rejected a landfill application the same month, citing inadequate supporting materials.

A district court magistrate judge fined the company $375 in October, shortly after the company’s business partnership was dissolved over the reporting issue. B&E has until Aug. 31 to remove all of the previously disposed waste from the site.

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269, brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.